Mentoring Monday – 6 Ways To Enter Into Your Children’s Trials

She sat on the edge of the couch crying.  She was going through some difficult circumstances and was completely overwhelmed. As her mother, all I wanted to do was to correct her thinking so that she would calm down.  I wanted to objectively explain her circumstances – in light of truth.  I wanted to make everything better.  Thankfully, her father intervened! He calmly motioned for me to be quiet, walked over to the couch, put his arm around our daughter, and let her share from her perspective.

It was what she needed!

As a parent it’s easy to want to be the fixer, the answer giver, the problem solver. I want to make everything better when at, times, what is needed is for me to be a listener. Taking the time to enter into ​my ​children’s trials is something that ​I​ must be intentional to do. How can I do that?

6 Ways To Enter Into Your Children’s Trials

1. Spend time before the Lord a​sk​ing him to help you see the opportunities that he will provide to come along side your children.
2. Hold loosely to  your schedule and intentionally be aware of what is going on in the lives of your children.
3. R​eflect ​b​ack to them ​the things you ​see God doing in their lives and in their difficult circumstances.
4. Encourage them by verbalizing how ​you​ see them learning and growing, especially if it is a character trait that is being strengthened and grown as a result of their trials.
5. If you see your children turning toward God and responding well amidst their struggles, make sure you let them know you see it and tell them you are proud of them for persevering .
6. Be sensitive to the Holy Spirit so that you know when it is the right time to share truths from God’s Word and when you need to be ​quiet. ​​

I desperately want to be a person who is the hands and feet of Jesus in my children’s lives. I don’t want to be well-meaning yet miss out on opportunities to ​enter in to ​their suffering. We are told in Romans 12: 15 to “weep with those who weep.” Why not do that for our own children?

Looking for ways to enter into your children’s trials is a beautiful gift of grace you can offer them. We can’t keep them from the suffering of this world, but we sure can be one of their biggest support systems! God has provided some wonderful, godly people to live life with my children through the years. But, as long as I am able, my goal is to do all I can do!

What a privilege we have as parents to be able to enter into our children’s trials and prayerfully walk them through what life throws at them. It benefits them and it benefits us. What an awesome way to not only draw closer to our children, but to draw closer to God.

Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.” Galatians 6:12